Avoid agents that want to "buy the listing"

Yesterday we walked away from listing a home on Lannie Ct. in Elm Grove, very close to the property we have a pending sale at 13550 Wrayburn Rd. You see, the seller is already listed for $449,900 for almost 5 months with very little activity and no offer. He was also listed last year with a different agent for $479,900. Our expert agent Kati Fonte who sold the home on Wrayburn in two months and has been a top agent for the last 19 years with Homeowners Concept, told the seller the price and changes in the presentation it would take to sell but seller was reluctant to go there. Why? Because other agents have told him the price in the mid $450s is doable. And herein lies the problem. Sellers listening to inexperienced agents or agents who want to have a listing hoping they attract a buyer they then can sell them something else.

When we do a free market analysis we take the perspective of what it would take to get the property sold looking at it from the buyer's vantage and making sure we have the comparable sales to back up the appraisal. Unfortunately there are a lot of high commission agents that will take anything at any price just to get their name in the marketplace. Many sellers fall prey to the old trick high commission agents play which is "buying the listing". We refuse to participate in this game. THIS IS a total disservice to sellers who pin their hopes on a higher price than the market can support. For verification of this, one has to look at the thousands of properties that expire unsold each month in the Southeast Wisconsin MLS.